London Theater: fantastic, but no longer a bargain

When Rick and I first started going to London together in the 1980’s, I was astonished at how inexpensive London theater was in comparison to New York. We saw many memorable productions for a fraction of what it would cost in New York. No more. Most West End productions are every bit as expensive as NYC.

We saw an amazing production of Guys and Dolls—a favorite of Rick’s. The current London production is so good that Guys and Dolls is now one of my all time favorite musicals--right up there with West Side Story. And “Luck be a lady tonight” has got to be one of the greatest show tunes of all times.It will be playing in London until October 2016.

We also had the good fortune to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time . We hadn’t managed to get up to New York to see it and were thrilled that it was playing in London during our stay. It too will be in London until October 2016.

There are still theater bargains in London at small theater companies outside the West End, like King's Head Theatre in Islington where we saw Cosi for 18 pounds (about 27 dollars)

And the National Theater is still the best deal in town. We saw Les Blancs, a Lorraine Hansberry play left unfinished at her death and finished by her ex-husband and literary executor.

We saw it while it was in previews and unfortunately there was a break down in the staging—-an elaborate revolving stage that would not revolve. The director walked onto the stage to tell the audience there was a major problem and asked for our patience. We tried, but after a half hour we started to worry about being able to get up the next morning to make our flight. We decided we could not afford to wait any longer. I sure hope Les Blancs comes to NYC some day!